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Staff reports

Thursday

Feb 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMFeb 28, 2008 at 8:42 AM

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008

Recycling efforts going to waste?

BRIGHTON — Every week, Paula Mackowiak sets aside time to cut up cardboard and cereal boxes before setting them in her recycling bin. She spends even more time carefully washing out plastic jars and aluminum cans to put in a separate blue bin.

Then, when her trash and recycling gets picked up, she says her work is all for nothing because her garbage disposal company throws it all into one garbage truck.

“It’s rather discouraging,” Mackowiak said.

Mackowiak and her neighbors been having trouble with Lilac Disposal, a waste management company based in Ontario, Wayne County. In the fall, residents in nearby Webster complained that their recyclables and trash were ending up in the same truck, which prompted both the town and Monroe County to warn the company about its actions. Now, it seems the same issue has trickled into Penfield and Brighton.

Industrial waste engineer Patrick Collins of the county Department of Environmental Services said that complaints about waste companies not separating trash and recycle bins aren’t common, but about 95 percent of all the complaints that have come in since July have been about Lilac. Overall, Collins said the county has received between 50 to 100 complaints about Lilac since the summer, with more than a dozen coming in just the last two weeks.

Collins said that managers at Lilac know the rules because the county has met several times with them in person to discuss residents’ concerns and also provided literature to them outlining the specifics of the law and potential offenses.

“This is something that various drivers may do on the road, but there’s never been a systematic, corporate problem,” Collins said. “It’s against the law for them to do that, and they know that.”

But Lilac General Manager Doug Gutzmer said he doesn’t know anything about the issues.

West Herr Ford in Dansville closing Saturday

DANSVILLE – After 21 years in business, Dansville-area residents looking for a new Ford will have to go out of this Livingston County village as of Saturday.

According to a full-page advertisement in the Thursday edition of the Genesee Country Express, West Herr Ford-Lincoln-Mercury on Maple Street in Dansville is closing its doors and shipping off the last of its inventory Friday.

According to the advertisement, the dealership is being closed down as part of the Ford Motor Company Market Consolidation Program.

“Ford is not unique in this program as there are other manufacturers that have similar initiatives as well,” the advertisement states. “Unfortunately, many of these closings are taking place in smaller towns and villages like Dansville.”

All employees at the dealership have been offered jobs elsewhere in the West Herr company, according to the statement, and the company is attempting to sell the four-acre site near the Dansville airport.

According to the advertisement, the management at Simmons-Rockwell Ford Mercury on State Route 36 in Hornell has agreed to take over maintenance and repair services previously performed by West Herr in Dansville. Former customers are asked to contact the Hornell service department at (607) 324-4444 for repair work.

Calls to management at the West Herr headquarters were not returned, and officials in the Dansville office declined to comment.

The shutdown is the second major dealership closing in the region recently. Elsenheimer Chevrolet in Hornell ceased operation last year.

Credit union opening inside high school

IRONDEQUOIT — A student branch of the Penfield-based Family First Federal Credit Union opened Thursday at Bishop Kearney High School.
The formal ribbon cutting will mark the Family First Federal’s first-ever student branch. With the guidance of Family First personnel, students will operate the branch.

The concept, school officials said, reinforces Kearney's new curriculum, started last year through its partnership with Paychex founder B. Thomas Golisano, that teaches students skills for the 21st century marketplace.

Family First Credit Union currently operates three full-service branches throughout Monroe County.

Man jailed in connection to theft of dead man’s vehicle

GREAT SACANDAGA LAKE – A Mayfield man is in custody after allegedly being involved in the theft of a snowmobile that crashed into ice Monday afternoon and eventually led to the death of its owner.

According to Fulton County Sheriff Thomas J. Lorey, 49-year-old Shawn M. Simboli, of Broadalbin, was pronounced dead after he was discovered in an ice shanty about two miles from the site of a snowmobile crash. In connection to the accident, deputies located Jacob E. Conyne, 23, of Second Avenue, Mayfield, at a Mayfield residence on Tuesday afternoon and arrested him for third-degree grand larceny, a class D felony, after it was determined that the man was in possession of the deceased’s snowmobile.

Lorey said that a 911 call was placed late Monday afternoon indicating that an unresponsive male was located in the shanty on the Great Sacandaga Lake.

The sheriff said it appeared that Simboli had walked the two miles from the scene of the accident before he entered the ice shanty where he was found. It is alleged that Conyne discovered Simboli’s wrecked 2006 Yamaha snowmobile and that Conyne used a pick up truck to remove the snowmobile from the frozen ice before taking it to a Mayfield location.

An autopsy on Simboli’s body was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, and as of press time, no results were available.

Conyne is presently in custody at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the investigation is continuing.

Forum tackles education, image

WHITESBORO — The regional impact of educational institutions and the quality of the Mohawk Valley's image were the two main points discussed at the Genesis Group's second regional community forum this morning at the Hart's Hill Inn.

The nearly 60 attendees included group members, elected officials and representatives of community organizations.

Elected officials responded to concerns addressed in the 135 surveys the Genesis Group received back from its members.

“Our goal is to work with the governor's office to create a regional plan for the area,” executive director Raymond J. Durso Jr. said.

Tony Colón, vice president of the Mohawk Valley Latino Association, attended the forum.

“Quite often we talk about what (the area) could be, what it should be,” he said. “Let's talk about what we have.”

Officials agreed that the image of the area needs to be refocused in a more positive light.

CHILI — It probably won’t be the talk of the town, but Chili’s town codes are currently undergoing an update and revision. The code book contains town laws, definitions of zoning, and lays out rules for everything from regulations regarding signs and noise to building decks, pools and large-scale commercial projects, among other things.

“Most people aren’t going to pick up the code book unless you have a particular interest in doing something,” said Supervisor David Dunning. “For example, I’m thinking about widening my driveway, so I’ll have to check the code book for the rules because I don’t know, nor should anybody else be expected to know.”

The 468-page document is available for download.

The project to update the town codes began about two years ago. Town departments, staff, and members of committees and boards in Chili helped bring the code up to date.

General Code Publishers Corp. was hired to help with the project.
New laws, adopted by the Town Board over the past few years, are included in the code. They pertain to things such as outdoor wood furnaces (now banned in town), and new stormwater regulations passed down by Albany.